IELTS Speaking Part 2: the cue card

How Part 2 works

The examiner gives you a task card. It names a topic, usually something to describe (a person, a place, an object, an event), with three or four prompts underneath and a last line asking you to explain something about it.

You get one minute to prepare and you may write notes on the paper you are given. Then you speak for one to two minutes without the examiner interrupting. When two minutes are up, the examiner will stop you, even mid-sentence. That is part of the test and does not lower your band.

After you finish, the examiner may ask one or two short questions about what you said. Then Part 3 begins.

An example cue card

Written for this guide, in the style of the real test:

• Describe a place in your town where you like to spend time.
• You should say: where it is, how often you go there, what you do there,
• and explain why you like spending time there.

Using your one minute well

Do not write sentences. You will not have time, and reading them aloud sounds flat. Write four or five key words, one for each prompt, and one feeling or reason for the last line.

For the card above, notes could be: "Dhanmondi Lake / Friday evening / walk, tea, friends / quiet, trees, after a busy week". That is enough to speak for two minutes.

How to keep talking for two minutes

Most learners stop after about a minute. The fix is to give every prompt a small story, not one line.

1. Start with one sentence that sets the scene: what it is and why you chose it.
2. Go through the prompts in order. For each, add a detail: a time, a person, a sound, a smell.
3. Spend the most time on the last line, the "explain why". This is where your best vocabulary and reasons go.
4. If you still have time, add a comparison: how it used to be, or how it differs from somewhere else.

Practise with a timer. After a few tries you will know what two minutes feels like.

Common mistakes in Part 2

• Stopping at 40 seconds and waiting. The examiner may ask you to say more, but your time is gone.
• Changing the topic to a speech you memorised. Off-topic answers are noticed.
• Reading your notes word by word, looking down the whole time.
• Spending the minute worrying instead of writing key words.

Practise Part 2 with a real clock

BandGuru gives you a Part 2 card, a one-minute preparation timer and a two-minute speaking timer, like the test. You get a practice band on the four criteria and the fixes worth making. See how it works.